Flensburg’s coaching decision causes a lot of trouble in their own ranks
As of 3:41 p.m
Flensburg’s interim coach Mark Bult gave free rein to his anger on Friday. The 40-year-old said he was very disappointed in those responsible at the club
Source: dpa/Axel Heimken
Flensburg’s interim coach Mark Bult is disappointed after signing new coach Nicolej Krickau. The 40-year-old doesn’t even try to hide his anger at a press conference. He chooses drastic words.
SSuch open words are rarely heard from a coach. Before the important game of SG Flensburg-Handewitt for the Champions League places at SC Magdeburg on Sunday (2 p.m. / Sky), Mark Bult, 40, is really only concerned with one thing: his personal situation.
After Maik Machulla, 46, left in April, the Dutch assistant coach took over the reins. He should get his chance to recommend himself as head coach for the new season in the remaining league games. As is well known, nothing came of it. The SG announced on Tuesday that Nicolej Krickau, 36, will take over from the Danish club GOG Gudme for the new season. He signed a contract until 2026. And that pisses Mark Bult off.
Bult is loaded: “We all read or saw on TV that the SG said they gave me a fair chance. My feeling is that the chance was never realistic.” He also clearly communicated this opinion to Managing Director Holger Glandorf, 40.
Coach’s decision causes trouble
Internally, it quickly became clear that there would not be a permanent commitment as head coach. Bult explains sourly: “I’ve invested a lot of time in my ideas for the next season. A new base game, new concept, new structures. But after a week it was said that they were focusing on another candidate. I’m disappointed about that.”
Jim Gottfridsson (l.) is out with the Flensburg team until the end of the season
Source: dpa/Frank Molter
Instead of relying on an internal solution with Bult, Flensburg bought the Dane Krickau out of his contract with GOG Gudme, which ran until 2025. There Krickau won the national cup in 2019 and 2023 and the championship in 2022. Despite all the disappointment, there is also praise from the still coach Bult: “He has a good standing in Denmark and is a talented coach. He has consistently released good players with GOG and had good results.”
So can Bult imagine working with Krickau on the second line? After the Krickau commitment, managing director Holger Glandorf (40) publicly emphasized that SG will continue to plan as a “co” with Bult in order to make it as easy as possible for the new boss to get started in Germany. Bult himself is surprised: “I have to read from the newspapers that I will remain assistant coach next season. Nobody spoke to me – not the club and not the new coach either.” He wanted to wait for the talks with Krickau and then make a decision.
Bult wants to be a head coach
Despite the contract until 2026, Bult’s words sound more like a premature separation. “I want to do what I’m doing now (work as a head coach, editor’s note). It’s always been a big dream of mine.” In Flensburg he would have to take a back seat.
Before the top game against defending champions Magdeburg, there was more bad news on Friday: Playmaker Jim Gottfridsson tore a part of the medial ligament in his right knee during training. The Swede will be out until the end of the season. The injury should heal without surgery. A return of the 30-year-old is planned in preparation for the 2023/24 season.
In order to have a chance of reaching a place in the Champions League, fourth-placed Flensburg (45:15 points) must win against second-placed Magdeburg (49:11). The fact that a success for SG would almost make THW Kiel (49:9) the champion doesn’t bother Bult. If the northern rivals take the title, “he would have deserved it,” he said.
